We will hurt and be hurt

Forgiveness is the act of admitting we are like other people. We are prone to make mistakes that cause confusion, inflict pain, and miscommunicate our intentions. We are the recipients of these human errors and the perpetrators. There is no way we can avoid hurting others or being hurt by others, because this is exactly the nature of our imperfection.

The only choice we have is to reconcile ourselves to our own flaws and the flaws in other people, or withdraw both from our humanness and our connection to the sacred....

To fully live, we must choose to enter freely the cycle of interaction in which we will hurt and be hurt, forgive and be forgiven, and move on with love intact....Lack of forgiveness destroys the peace in our hearts.

—Christina Baldwin in Life's Companion: Journal Writing as a Spiritual Quest